O.J. Semmes Elementary, 1250 E. Texar Drive: pre-K to fifth grade, 344 students (2024-25), a C in Florida's 2026 school grades. 850-595-6975.
Last checked Oct. 11, 2026. Sources: Escambia County Public Schools and its Find Your School lookup, the school’s website, the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades and the federal NCES school directory.
O.J. Semmes Elementary School is the Escambia County Public Schools elementary school on East Texar Drive, inside the city limits north of downtown. In our check of the district’s zone lookup, it was the zoned elementary school for about a quarter of the homes in the city, about as many as Global Learning Academy, though it had the smallest enrollment of the city’s elementary schools in the latest federal count.
Who to call
- Front office: 850-595-6975, 1250 E. Texar Drive, Pensacola, FL 32503; office hours 6:50 a.m. to 2:50 p.m.
- School website: semmeses.escambiaschools.org
- Enrollment, transfers and school choice: Enrollment Services, 850-469-5580; Enrollment Services page
- Buses: Transportation dispatch, 850-469-5490 or 850-469-5678, staffed every school day (transportation contacts)
| Address | 1250 E. Texar Drive, Pensacola, FL 32503 |
| Phone | 850-595-6975 |
| Grades | Pre-K to 5 |
| Principal | Susan Sanders |
| 2026 state grade | C (49% of points) |
| School hours | 7:10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. |
Principal. Susan Sanders is the principal, according to the school’s administration page. Caroline Carithers is assistant principal.
Enrollment and teachers
- Federal count: 344 students in the 2024-25 school year, with 22 full-time-equivalent classroom teachers, according to the NCES directory. That is about 16 students per teacher. The count a year earlier was 288.
- State figure: the school’s state report card carries current enrollment by grade and student group; it is an interactive dashboard that could not be read for this page.
State report card
Florida gave Semmes a C in its 2026 school grades, its third straight C. The school earned 49% of the points possible, according to the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades file. The file lists all of its students as economically disadvantaged, and it is a Title I school.
| 2026 school grade measure | Result |
|---|---|
| School grade | C (49% of points) |
| Third grade English language arts achievement | 51% |
| English language arts achievement | 39% |
| English language arts learning gains | 47% |
| English language arts gains, lowest 25% | 71% |
| Math achievement | 49% |
| Math learning gains | 47% |
| Math gains, lowest 25% | 64% |
| Science achievement | 23% |
Florida grades schools A to F on the share of possible points earned across these measures. Achievement is the share of tested students on grade level; learning gains is the share who improved from the year before, and the lowest 25% rows count the school’s lowest-scoring students. For an elementary school, A is 62% of points or more, B is 54% to 61%, C is 41% to 53% and D is 32% to 40%, the state’s file says.
Attendance zone and feeder schools
Escambia County assigns schools by street address, and zones do not follow city limits. Type any address and ZIP code into the district’s Find Your School lookup to see its zoned schools for 2026-27.
We ran one residential parcel from each of 347 blocks of the city through that lookup, weighted by the 22,294 homes the Escambia County Property Appraiser lists inside the city limits. About 25% were zoned for Semmes. Our neighborhood guides found Semmes among the zoned schools on some streets in East Hill, North Hill and the Eastside.
Feeder schools. The district does not publish a feeder list. Every Pensacola address we checked in the Semmes zone was zoned for J.H. Workman Middle. About 64% were zoned for Booker T. Washington High and 36% for Pensacola High, so families on different streets in the same elementary zone can end up at different high schools.
Changes approved. The district’s School Attendance Zone Advisory Committee posts its approved maps on its 2023-24 attendance zone maps page; the only change there is to Pleasant Grove Elementary, and none touches Semmes.
Calendar and bell times
From the district’s 2026-27 academic calendar (PDF), approved by the School Board on Feb. 18, 2025:
- Tuesday, Oct. 13: second nine weeks begins
- Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, no school
- Nov. 23-27: fall break, including Thanksgiving
- Dec. 21 to Jan. 1: Christmas break; the third nine weeks begins Tuesday, Jan. 5
- March 22-26, 2027: spring break
Bell times. Drop-off and breakfast run from 6:50 to 7:10 a.m., the tardy bell rings at 7:10 a.m. and dismissal is at 1:30 p.m., the school’s home page says. No checkouts are allowed after 12:45 p.m., and an adult checking a student out must be listed on the student’s Focus account and show ID.
More on Pensacola schools
- The district’s elementary school directory, with the principal and phone for every elementary school
- Every public school in Pensacola, with zones and report cards
- Our Pensacola schools guide for the full calendar, enrollment steps and School Board meetings
Frequently asked questions
What grades does Semmes Elementary serve?
O.J. Semmes Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, according to the federal NCES directory. It is at 1250 E. Texar Drive, and its main line is 850-595-6975.
What is Semmes Elementary’s Florida school grade?
Semmes earned a C in Florida’s 2026 school grades, with 49% of possible points. It also had a C in 2025 and 2024.
Which middle and high school does Semmes Elementary feed into?
The district does not publish a feeder list. Every Pensacola address we checked in the Semmes zone was zoned for J.H. Workman Middle; about two-thirds were zoned for Booker T. Washington High and one-third for Pensacola High.
What time does Semmes Elementary start?
School starts at 7:10 a.m. and dismissal is at 1:30 p.m., according to the school’s website. Drop-off and breakfast run from 6:50 to 7:10 a.m.
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